The use of direct plug contacts in which a direct plug element is plugged in directly on a mounting plate, e.g., a circuit board, has been increasing lately. In a large number of contact areas on the circuit board, the contact areas are situated in a row close to an edge of the circuit board, in this context. In a large number of contact areas, there comes about, for this reason, a corresponding length on the circuit board as well as complicated wiring on the circuit board, since because of this, the paths between the contact areas and components on the circuit board each have to be enlarged with the number of contact areas. A further problem area with direct contacting is that usually the direct plug elements have to be pushed onto the contact areas on the circuit board from in front. In this context, the direct contacts of the plug elements rub against the contact areas of the circuit board over the path length of the plugging process. Because of this, in response to each plugging process, the surfaces of the direct contacts and of the contact areas on the circuit board are abraded, and they clearly wear in response to a plurality of plugging processes. In this connection, it was established that in control units, for example, the plugging processes are among processes causing the severest damage on the control unit in its product life.